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Time to Carpool?
By Daphne | March 18, 2008
If you can… rethink public transportation. If not what about a car pool or van pool?
People who have moved farther outside of the city limits and who work either in the city or in another suburban area are really getting hit hard by rising gas prices. If you can, take a train carpool or other form of transportation where you can share the ride. In most large urban areas there are trains and buses that make trips into the city. For those who work a little farther out there are sponsored vanpools, groups of people whose rides split among all of those who take part.
What about those people who have a long drive solo? If you cannot find anyone to share the drive with you and you do not work close to public transportation, make sure you take great care of your car. The tires should be properly filled, the oil levels checked and do not carry around unnecessary junk in your car. Extra weight means that you use more gas.
Share the Drive, a subsidiary of Pace in the Chicagoland area, really helps with people who work farther away from public transportation. All you have to do is register and they will try to match you up with others who work and live near you. There are incentives such as tax benefits, sharing the price of fuel. One benefit of car pooling is that you are with the same people all of the time.
Granted carpooling is not for everyone. You may not like the other participants. I had a rider in my car for a couple of months at one job which was too far to take public transportation. It was awful, the person didn’t talk, had hygiene issues and above all… make me late for work on several occasions. If you can find people who will work well and can get along then sharing a ride would work. Making someone late for work was grounds for me disbanding this ride share.
Chicago is not alone, New York, Baltimore, Los Angeles, New Orleans and other urban areas have embraced shared rides for reasons other than high gas prices. Now that the gas prices are approaching $4 a gallon in some areas shared rides may have a renewed appeal for those who are cutting corners wherever they can. Ride sharing can help you ease traffic congestion and pollution, you might even make new friends.
Topics: March 2008 |
March 18th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Carpooling is a great idea. There is a nationwide site called RideSearch.com that does the same thing. People are signing up in droves.